Are Home Care Franchise Opportunities A Good Investment?

Home care franchises are one of the fastest-growing breeds of franchise on the market today. Home care is the nation’s leading alternative to residential healthcare, and the benefits it offers for the patient are enormous. For a clever entrepreneur seeking a solid business model, a home care franchise is a great way to turn that skillset into a profit — and because it’s profit made by making people’s lives better, it’s capitalism you can feel good about!

What sets the home care franchise apart?

Low Startup Costs: You could pay a half-million dollars or more to start a fast food franchise, or you could pay one-fifth that to start a home care franchise. Rather than purchasing a mountain of equipment and hiring people to operate it, you’re primarily hiring marketing staff, paying for basic office space, and recruiting and training nurses and home care aides.

High Income: Research firm Home Care Pulse studied home-health franchise revenue and determined that the median gross income was just over $1 million in 2009, and it’s risen to just under $2 million projected for 2015 — an insane rate of growth that shows no signs of slowing.

Expanding Market: The number of people over 65 doubled between 1960 and 1990, and then doubled again between 1990 and 2015. The number of people over 85 tripled between 1960 and 1990, and then tripled again between 1990 and 2015. The Census Bureau’s estimates are that these rates are only increasing — so if you’re in Home Care, your customer base is only getting bigger, faster.

Legal Advocates: One of the greatest hindrances to a modern medical startup is the legal limbo that many areas of medicine are in right now. Home care, along with telemedicine and midwives, is struggling to convince the legal and political arenas to keep up with a quickly-evolving market. As a franchise, you’ll have a much stronger and better-backed company representing your interests and ensuring that your business and the law don’t come into conflict.

The Chance to Do Good for Your Community: This is, no doubt, the heart and soul of anyone who gets into the home care industry. If you’re not looking to help the homebound patients that are your customers — and to help their families — you should probably look for a different opportunity.

Not All Are Created Equal

Most in home care franchise contracts are renewed every 10 years — which means you need to find more than just “a home care franchise.” You need to find the right franchise. Every one of them offers a different set of advantages and tools. Some will require you to recruit your own home care aides; others will provide you with a pre-existing structure. Some will offer you legal services; others won’t. Find the franchise that asks for your strengths and offers tools to cover your weaknesses, and you’ll be doing as much as you can to set yourself up for success.